Saved by casual gaming: Majesco is making money again

After almost disappearing in a cloud of financial ruin, Majesco has managed to …

In 2004 and 2005, it seemed that game publisher Majesco was going places. The company just had a surprise hit with BloodRayne, and its upcoming catalog of titles was incredibly impressive, containing names like BloodRayne 2, The Darkness, Taxi Driver, Psychonauts, and the Orson Scott Card-penned Advent Rising. Of course, some readers might remember that those last two games managed to nearly bankrupt Majesco thanks to their poor sales. As a result, Majesco announced in 2006 that it would shift its development focus towards handheld and budget titles. The strategy seems to have worked, since the company posted a net profit of $18.7 million during the financial quarter that ended on January 31.

A huge factor for this success has been the smash–hit DS title, Cooking Mama, as evidenced by the fact that Majesco was still in the red the year before they released the game. This year the company is expected to earn total revenue somewhere between $53 and $58 million.

At the moment, there are no announced plans to create anything other than "casual" titles, but with company's ever-increasing success in the handheld market, perhaps gamers will eventually be given Advent Shadow on the PSP (without the problems that made Advent Rising so painful).